Michigan industries are feeling ripples from the splash President Donald Trump’s tariffs made Saturday. Trump’s executive action aims to impose an additional 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico (except for Canadian energy resources, on which Trump will levy a 10% tariff) and an additional 10% tariff on imports from China.
The tariffs are expected to have a broad impact on Michigan industries like manufacturing, automobiles, tourism, and agriculture, according to industry experts.
The tariffs — which were expected to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday — will make the price of goods such as oil and lumber from Canada; produce, liquor, and auto parts from Mexico; and plastics and computer chips from China more expensive for manufacturers and U.S. consumers as they are taxed at the U.S. border, experts said.
But the tariffs on Mexico are now delayed: after Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump Monday morning, she wrote in a post on X that she agreed to bring 10,000 troops to the U.S. southern border, permanently, and Trump agreed to delay tariffs on Mexican imports for one month in exchange for Mexico increasing border security. The White House has confirmed the postponement.
Trump also spoke with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, but no agreement was immediately reached to delay or lower tariffs on Canadian imports.
Trump told reporters that he expects to speak with Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, within 24 hours to discuss the tariffs Monday afternoon. China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, said China was filing a complaint Monday with the World Trade Organization over the tariffs.
Glenn Stevens Jr. is the executive director of MichAuto, an automotive and mobility cluster association and an affiliate of the Detroit Regional Chamber. Stevens said the tariffs could pose difficulties for the Michigan auto industry because of its close interaction with countries such as Canada and Mexico.
“These parts are moving back and forth between all three countries on a continuous basis. There's assembly plants in all three countries,” Stevens told Michigan Public. “We have met with the Mexican government, the Canadian government, [and] even the Japanese government in the last week in Detroit to discuss this with them and everybody is very concerned.”
The United Auto Workers released a statement Monday that said the union supports tariff action that supports U.S. manufacturing jobs but does not approve of the way they have been implemented over the past few days.
“The UAW supports aggressive tariff action to protect American manufacturing jobs as a good first step to undoing decades of anti-worker trade policy,” the statement read. “We do not support using factory workers as pawns in a fight over immigration or drug policy. We are willing to support the Trump Administration’s use of tariffs to stop plant closures and curb the power of corporations that pit US workers against workers in other countries.”
Stevens said if input costs rise because of taxes at the U.S. border, costs for U.S. consumers are going to increase.
Dennis Darby, the president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, agrees. Darby told Michigan Public that costs will go up for both manufacturers and consumers in the short run due to the tariffs. He spoke about the importance of the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S.
“Auto is kind of the poster child for the trade relationship between Canada and U.S., but looking across the whole country, about half of everything Canada produces goes to the U.S. and almost all of that is manufactured goods,” Darby said. “That means from every possible sector — whether it's oil and gas, chemicals, food, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, aerospace parts — Canada is part of a North American supply chain.”
Darby also said there are some longer-term expected responses to the tariffs. Some manufacturers may move their production to the U.S. while some U.S. companies may search for new sources for manufacturing inputs, he said.
Some Canadian citizens have taken matters into their own hands after Trump announced the tariffs on Friday. Some have committed to buying domestic products versus U.S.-manufactured ones while others are canceling trips to the U.S.
Trump has said he imposed the tariffs to pressure U.S. trade partners to reduce the flow of drugs, such as fentanyl, and migrants into the U.S. He declared a national emergency.
